Be Safe, Be Vigilant, Be Alert

Why Contra Radio?

Good evening readers. I was reflecting on my first live broadcast for my radio channel Contra Radio from last night. As you may be aware I have finally gotten it off the ground after a year of toying with the idea, and a few months after I retired, I finally did it. Truth is, I didn’t know how it would go down. I was full of questions and some doubts. One of the main questions that kept coming back to me was this,” Did I know enough about my subject to talk about it publicly?”, “What would my friends and associates say and or think about me after they realized I was a Prepper?”, ” Could I pull it off?”, and “Do I dare expose my thoughts and myself to public scrutiny?”

These thoughts kept going through my mind. I finally decided that I can do this internet radio station thing, and maybe create a network for Contra Radio, for other people who Prep and live the Survivalist lifestyle. With that in mind I went forward and did my first podcast a few days ago and archived it. Then went to my Facebook pages, ‘White Star Patriots” and “Contra Preppers” asked for feedback. Got one person who gave me his honest assessment. It was what I asked for, and I got it. After all I thought, how can fix it, if I do not know what is wrong. Right?

I decided to do the internet radio station thing because I wanted a companion format for this blog. Writing is enjoyable to me, however, I do like talking as I find I can cover more items/topics with speech. I thought that an internet radio station would be the next logical step. So I found Blog Talk Radio, quite by accident. I toyed with the idea for a bit, then decided to actually put some effort into it. Contra Radio is the early results of my effort, and I am not quite finished with it just yet. Since retirement on March 31, 2014, I have found I really do have the time to do it, and to devote to it as it deserves.

I have converted an empty room upstairs in my house into my “studio”. Here I settled down to get down to work. I actually found a large computer desk at my local Goodwill store for $15, so now I was ready to start installing my equipment, including a “new” used Sony Vaio laptop that I use exclusively for my blog and radio show. Even bought a small mixer soundboard, microphone booms, new microphone, headphones with mic. I even found an old Zenith console TV in the room, it works so I decided to hook my extra cable box to it, so I have access to the news as it happens. I decided that if I was doing this, I was going to do a good job, and I needed the equipment to do it right. The last thing I really wanted to do was do a crappy job, make a poor product, then show it off to the planet. I was not going to do that to myself, so I spent a few bucks to try and get it right.

John Jeffers aka Conelrad working this first Live broadcast on Contra Radio

A few ideas that I want to explore as I build my listener base is to start lining up guest. I will probably expand my radio show from 15 minutes to 30 minutes-maybe longer if this really takes off. So I do have gather a bit more equipment, such as another microphone and mic boom. Probably get it next month. In the meantime, I keep looking for a few sponsors for my hosting package, in return I will make commercials for their company or products. They might even offer discounts to my listeners, you know like, a coupon code to enter when they check out online. That would be nice, still having a sponsor for the hosting package would be even nicer.

Today, I have engaged the services of a graphic arts designer, to make a new logo for Contra Radio, and for Contrafighter blog. I should get some feedback and have it ready within a week.

So it has been a full 24 hours since my live broadcast, I have had 54 downloads of my program, and 1 call from a vendor. So far so good. Only time will tell if this program and station on the internet will develop into a network that will serve 3 million Preppers in the U.S. and more around the world. I do hope it does and will work towards that goal. If you wish to take a look at my radio page, and follow on it, you will get a advance notice of the next air times. http://www.blogtalkradio.com/contraradio

Tonight I have many topics to discuss, so I will not be taking phone calls tonight, as I want to get through as many as possible. There will be a fb video feed of the broadcast on the CRN Group page. I am also using my backup computer since my primary one crashed, thank you Microsoft for the crap update.

Tonight I will talk about YOU. Who are you? What are you? What kind of prepper or Patriot are you? As we all begin a new year, it is time to decide these questions honestly, and with a purpose. Not going to judge anyone as to who is worthy and who is not. That is a question for YOU to decide.

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